


Chameleon eyes

by rabiddog



Series: DSMP [5]
Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Betrayal, Canonical Character Death, Enderman Hybrid Ranboo (Video Blogging RPF), Fluff and Angst, Hurt TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF), Manipulative Clay | Dream (Video Blogging RPF), Mild Blood, Neglect, Parent Phil Watson (Video Blogging RPF), Ranboo Needs a Hug (Video Blogging RPF), Technoblade is Bad at Feelings (Video Blogging RPF), TommyInnit Angst (Video Blogging RPF), TommyInnit Needs a Hug (Video Blogging RPF), Wilbur Soot and Technoblade and TommyInnit are Siblings, Winged Phil Watson (Video Blogging RPF)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-13
Updated: 2021-01-13
Packaged: 2021-03-17 14:01:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,865
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28726278
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rabiddog/pseuds/rabiddog
Summary: Phil watched - eyes soft and lips upturned - as his eldest gently lifted Ranboo up into his arms and began to carry him to bed. Sure, the quivering hybrid had been through a lot, but he'd be okay now. They would look after the newest addition to their family.-Tommy's heart clenched as he watched from afar. His family had replaced him. One mistake, and he's suddenly nothing to them.Ranboo was there now, and Tommy was nothing.
Relationships: Clay | Dream & TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF), Ranboo & Phil Watson (Video Blogging RPF), Ranboo & Technoblade & Phil Watson (Video Blogging RPF), Technoblade & Phil Watson (Video Blogging RPF), Technoblade & TommyInnit & Phil Watson (Video Blogging RPF), TommyInnit & Phil Watson (Video Blogging RPF), Wilbur Soot & Phil Watson
Series: DSMP [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2079465
Comments: 34
Kudos: 1122
Collections: Cheshire's MCYT recs!, Completed stories I've read





	Chameleon eyes

**Author's Note:**

> @/chillytide on tiktok for their adorable drawings of Phil, Ranboo and Techno!!

Ranboo was shaking miserably as he curled up in Phil's circling arms, his long and lengthy limbs tucked up into a surprisingly tight ball – all shivering and quivering as he sniffled. Dark, dark, dark locks of silky, mismatched hair pressed into the underneath of the older man's chin and into his slight stubble, the tiny bristles an unfortunate result of long days spent working and not enough time put towards some particular hygiene routines. 

Phil's warming grip only tightened as the enderman-hybrid gave a particularly rough shake: though, it was more like a tremor that was running through him, perhaps signifying the start of a powerful earthquake threatening to swallow him up completely. 

"You're okay, Ranboo. You're okay now." Phil sighed gently, letting his fingers reach upwards to tenderly comb through velvety tufts of black and white. 

He'd been in this very position before – more than once, actually. Of course, there had been many times with his other sons where he'd had to cradle them in his arms after a particularly rough nightmare or a high fever, but he also had memorable moments that plagued his mind from time to time. 

_"Kill me, Phil- kill me! Do it! Kill me! Please!"_

_Phil had cradled Wilbur's broken and sobbing body against his own, dark crimson stains leaking into both of their torn garments as it spilled from the anarchist's ruptured form. A single stab wound through the chest from a glistening enchanted sword was all it had taken for him to crumble._

_Wilbur had collapsed to his knees in a splutter of stuttering movements. Phil stared on for just a moment more before springing into action. (The wings wormed deep into the blonde's flesh since birth, having been the only thing giving him the speed and agility to catch his dying child.)_

_"I've got you, Wil. I've got you. Just breathe for me, okay? It'll all be over soon. It'll all be okay soon."_

_A father could only hold his weeping son as he took his final breaths._

__

\- 

_"The voices... the voices, Dad, I can't- I can't get them out of my head!"_

_Technoblade's fingers were shaking and quivering as they pulled at his pink strands of matted hair, digging into the tuffs and relentlessly tugging at them until they started to tear. His breaths were coming out in shaky puffs of gasping oxygen – almost sounding as if his throat was slowly constricting and constricting with each word he tried to utter._

_The pig-hybrid let out a choked cry, his lower lip quivering, and his onyx-speckled eyes were filled to the brim with waves of unshed tears._

_"Oh, gods, Techno-" Phil whispered, dropping to his knees in front of the sobbing teenager and pulling him into a tight embrace. "I know, I know it must hurt, but you can get through it, okay? You're strong. You'll be okay; it'll be okay."_

_Words were the only thing that Phil could possibly offer as support. There was nothing else he could do for his eldest son at that point in time – so words he'd give. He'd provide the utmost amount of support and love until Techno felt at least somewhat okay again. He'd do anything for him, even if that were just holding him close and tight._

__

\- 

_"Hurts, dad."_

_Tommy's gaze was bleary and glazed as he searched for his father's reassuring expression, his skeletal, shaking hands outstretched towards the older man in a desperate attempt to grip onto his coloured garments._

_"Hurts." He repeated quietly, giving a minute jolt as another wave of fever ran over his heated, sweating skin._

_Tommy had been sick for the past week – the illness initially starting off small, just coughs and the occasional sneeze, before hitting him full force one night. He hadn't even been able to crawl from his bed to the bathroom before vomit was spilling from his cracked lips amongst the countless wails._

_His brothers, Techno and Wilbur, had tried to be there for him, but Phil had urged them away, not wanting them to catch anything too._

_"I know, Tom." Phil sighed lightly, gently settling next to his youngest and pulling the shuddering body against his chest. "Just relax. I've got you."_

_A cold, wet cloth was pressed against Tommy's clammy forehead, and the blonde teen sluggishly nodded. He knew that it'd be okay with his dad carefully coddling him._

__

"How is he doing?" 

Techno's drawling, monotone voice forcefully dragged Phil away from his wandering thoughts, and the winged man quickly glanced down to the quivering buddle in his arms. 'Ah, Ranboo.' A slight smile tugged at his lips, "Oh. He's doing okay, I think. Better than before, at least." He admitted. 

Phil's gaze lifted to his eldest. "Might need to get him into bed, though. Mind carrying him for me?" 

Technoblade spluttered. "Eh? Me?" 

Phil nodded, giving a little stretch before he gently rose with the mumbling heap of curled limbs. Getting Ranboo to a bed meant going upstairs, and unfortunately, neither the blonde's wings nor his back was ready for that journey anymore. (Maybe a few years ago, but not now...) 

"C'mon, you've done this before, haven't you? Just think of it as 'solidifying your big brother role.'" Phil grinned. 

Technoblade, however, was not grinning. If anything, he looked downright displeased with his joyful father. A disagreement was practically on the tip of the pig-hybrid's tongue, ready to unleash at any moment, but he swallowed it back. Ranboo _did_ look pretty pathetic like that, and Techno's heart wasn't _completely_ made out of ice. 

"Fine. But this is a one-time thing, okay?" 

"Yes!" Phil cheered lightly before smoothly continuing, "Yes, sure. Whatever you say." 

Techno grunted lightly, gently pulling Ranboo into his own arms before heading towards the stairs. The exchange had been a little awkward and fiddly, but the lengthy enderman seemed content enough to settle against the pink-haired man's solid chest plate after a short beat. "Which room am I taking him to?" 

Phil hummed. "Ah... Tommy's, I guess? He's probably not... not going to be here again, so..." 

They were both fully aware of Tommy's betrayal towards Technoblade in the last moments of L'Manburg's reign – how he'd sided with his best friend and the country that had abandoned him on countless occasions, instead of sticking with his _brother._

It still stung for both men. 

"Sure. I can do that." Techno nodded, offering a tiny, tight smile to his father before heading upstairs. They didn't need to think about Tommy now. They had another one to look after, instead. 

.

* * *

. 

Tommy's knees hit the ground with a thunk; his eyes were wide; his hands were feverishly shaking at his sides. Oh god, oh god, oh, _god_. His mind was racing desperately as the old, groaning cogs did their best to keep up with what was happening – he could barely comprehend. 

They'd really abandoned him. They'd really left him – chosen somebody else over him because he could never be ' _good enough_.' It was all his fault; it was all his fault! 

Maybe if he'd done better, perhaps if he'd tried harder to pull away from Dream's controlling strings, then he wouldn't have been cast aside – if he hadn't listened to what the masked man had told him to do in the first place, then he wouldn't be in this predicament at all. 

Oh god, oh god, oh god. 

Tears streaked down Tommy's frost-bitten cheeks, rivulets of a transparent liquid freezing along his flushed skin and staining his torn shirt a darker, deeper red than it already was. A part of him, a tiny, insignificant part, felt numb to it all. Numb to the sight of his family with another. But overall? He was devastated. 

Watching through a snow-kissed window as Technoblade carried a crumpled Ranboo upstairs; watching through a snow-kissed window as the twinkling light to Tommy's old room flickered on; watching through watery eyes and a heavy heart as his household closed its doors on him for a final time. 

Racing, glacial icicles and a raging, swirling blizzard was nothing but biting flecks against Tommy's irritated skin. The discordant, savage nature of the Tundra was but a mere background to the teenager's heartbreak. 

"I told you that they didn't need you anymore!~" 

Accompanying a rhythmic sing-song tone, a heavy hand landed on Tommy's shoulder, gloved fingers digging into his delicately exposed skin. The teen sharply inhaled. 

"You _told me_ this would make it better... if I..." Tommy swallowed roughly, gaze dragging from the house and up towards _Dream_ , but the masked face wasn't looking at him in return. No, he too was focused on the lone house amongst the snow, a small smirk toying at his (barely) visible lips as he surveyed the area. 

"You told me that they'd understand! You told me that they knew!" 

Dream hummed somewhat, moving his hand up so he could gently stroke through Tommy's wind-swept waves of blonde. There was a hint of manipulative affection in his touches that neither wanted to acknowledge. "Did I?" 

Tommy's gaze was burning. "You did, you did- _you did_! You said that they'd be safe if I joined with Tubbo in front of everyone; if I did what you'd asked, then they'd, they'd..." 

"Oh! I remember now! Yes, yes, I did say that, and I told them! Pinky promise. They knew what was happening," Dream shrugged nonchalantly, "I guess they just don't care." 

A sheet of silence gently fell over the two snow-covered figures, draping across their shoulders and resting there. 

"...What?" 

With a soft sigh, Dream leaned down, only to pull Tommy back up with him (into an only _somewhat_ stable standing position.) 

"Tommy. Listen to me, okay? I told them the plan; I told both Phil and Techno what you would do and what I would do with the community house. They understood the idea and were going along with it. I told you they'd be safe, and they are, aren't they?" 

The teen sniffled, his lapis eyes flickering over to the solitary house once more as Dream's words sunk in. 

So, they knew, they _knew_. They knew, and yet they'd still left Tommy in the ruins of L'Manburg? They'd run off together back home to the Tundra without even a single glance towards the teen's battered and bruised form. Neither had even asked if he was _okay_! And Ghostbur was nowhere to be seen, so- 

"Why Ranboo?" 

Why Ranboo? Why were they both looking after Ranboo? Why were they treating his wounds, both mental and physical? Why was he the only one they'd taken in after the fight? Why Ranboo and not _him_? 

Dream, unbeknownst to Tommy, was beaming. "I guess they've decided they don't want you anymore. Personally? I'm not surprised." A final squeeze to the blonde's shoulder, and then Dream was gone. Just like that. 

Tommy's heart wailed, and his eyes bled. 

That was fine then. If his family didn't need him, and Dream didn't need him, then that was okay. Tommy sunk lower into the snow, ever ignorant to the lethal frostbite beginning to lap at his sensitive complexion, or perhaps he just didn't care anymore. 

After all, at least he'd tried, right? 

At least he'd tried.

**Author's Note:**

> CC: [Curious Cat](https://curiouscat.me/rabiddogs)  
> Twitter: [Wilbburs](https://twitter.com/wilbburs)

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Take and leave](https://archiveofourown.org/works/28904427) by Anonymous 




End file.
